Forty-one major broadcasting companies
all simultaneously aired the anchor public
service ad (PSA), on television and radio,
launching the YOU campaign last Word AIDS Day
(December 1). The PSA was also aired on MultiChoice/DSTV
and the SABC’s Channel Africa giving
the ad truly continent-wide exposure.

The launch PSA, featuring
well-known African icons, was supported by
longer form programming developed by participating
ABMP member companies and is the first in a
sustained multi-year pan-African HIV/AIDS public
education and awareness campaign. This campaign
will specifically focus on African pride, accomplishment
and cultural uniqueness to promote fresh interest
in HIV/AIDS messaging, and by integrating messaging
across popular TV and radio programs.

View side bar for
more information

Using
the tag line “Imagine the Possibility
of an HIV-Free Generation…It Begins with
YOU” the YOU campaign exhorts Africans
to consider what each can do as individuals,
families, communities to help stop the spread
of HIV. As the campaign unfolds in the coming
months, new ads will focus on more specific
behaviours that drive the HIV epidemic in Africa.
The ads also highlighted an SMS number (+27-83-920-8407)
accessible across Africa that asks viewers
to send a text message saying what they are
doing to advance an HIV-free generation. People
who send an SMS text message to the number
get a message back encouraging all Africans
to know their HIV-status as a preventive form
of stopping the spread of the virus.

A campaign website (www.itbeginswithyou.org)
is under development and will be launched as
part of the second phase of the campaign in
mid-2007.

ABMP members companies enthusiastically
participated in the launch and have thrown
their weight behind the YOU campaign. Here
are a few examples of feedback:

“Let me explain the
essence of the “YOU” slogan in
the HIV/AIDS campaign. Quite often we tend
to look at the scourge of HIV/AIDS from a
very distant perspective – it is someone
else who could “catch” AIDS,
not me! This tendency to make HIV/AIDS a
distant, anonymous, third person gives us
a false sense of security, namely that “we” cannot
be infected – it is someone
else. But the reality of the HIV/AIDS
scourge is that it is right here with all
of us – in our homes, in our offices,
in our hotels, in our families, in our newsrooms, if
you’re not infected, you are affected.
The “YOU” campaign talks to each
and everyone of us – YOU – and
removes HIV/AIDS from faceless obscurity
and nameless anonymity to the “YOU” that
we know, that could be identified, that could
be named.”

From Mozambique, Televisao
de Moçambique (www.tvm.co.mz)
broadcast "+ Jovem" (“+
Young”) a youth talk-show program
featuring debates on issues related to
young people. The show also carried live
entertainment including music. On Rádio
Moçambique (www.rm.co.mz),
the radio stations across the country carried
news programming on local activities in
the communities. Television Miramar’s news
programming focused on global efforts to
fight the disease as well as youth debates
with young people. Throughout the course
of the day, SOICO TV (www.stv.co.mz)
carried segments focusing in HIV education
featuring in each segment a particular
area for discussion.

From South Africa, the South
Africa Broadcasting Corporation (www.sabc.co.za)
partnered with a local NGO to carry out
free HIV testing for members of the public.
All SABC senior executives took an HIV
test and encouraged members of staff to
do the same. Across the country, e.TV (www.etv.co.za)
and Mnet (www.mnet.co.za),
also members of the ABMP, carried the public
service jingles which were also tied into
other programming throughout the day.

From Seychelles: Seychelles
Broadcasting Corporation (www.sbc.sc)
the program YOUTHBEAT did a formal launch
of the campaign with featuring human interest
stories. Guests included young people,
religious leaders, entertainers, beauty
pageant winners, and sports personalities
all calling out the tag line of the campaign “it
begins with YOU.” The program also
featured a young star singing with a gospel
choir and studio audience participation
in a debate based on a drama sketch.

Click
below to see list of member companies
and countries here—and
information on content of YOU
campaign

Chief Executive Officer
of the South African Broadcasting Corporation,
Adv. Dali Mpofu on 1st December, 2006, in
a formal handover at which former UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan officiated, took on the
role of chair of the global leadership committee
of the GMAI. Launched by then Secretary General
Annan in January 2004, the GMAI (www.thegmai.org)
aims to increase the role and commitment
of broadcast companies worldwide to combating
HIV/AIDS. Mpofu takes over from founding
chair, MTV Networks International, President
Bill Roedy.

“I am very honoured
to have been asked to take up leadership
of the GMAI at this critical time in the
global fight against HIV and AIDS,” Mr
Mpofu said. “Africa is worst affected
by the epidemic, and this is an opportunity
for our continent to demonstrate real leadership
in this struggle and to motivate other broadcasters
around the world by our example.”

During the hand-over, then
UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, commented: "Since
the launch of the Global Media AIDS Initiative
in 2004, there has been overwhelmingly broad
participation. Bill Roedy has mobilized media
companies around the world to make unprecedented
commitments to HIV prevention through innovative
campaigns and programming. Dali Mpofu is
wonderfully suited to build on this momentum,
and to inspire others to use their creativity
and communications skills to fight the epidemic."

“There has never been
a greater effort by media to fight this epidemic,” commented
Mr Roedy. “However, HIV infection rates
continue to increase, emphasising the need
for stronger commitments and deeper involvement
from all media companies. Fighting HIV must
become part of the DNA of every company.
Much more needs to be done. By sharing content
and expertise, media can collectively make
a critical difference. This is the defining
moral issue of our time.”

The GMAI aims to engage
the world’s media in the fight against
AIDS. Since its launch, over 150 companies
from 76 countries have committed to substantially
increase the broadcast airtime for HIV & AIDS
related programmes and have participated
in developing and producing HIV & AIDS
messaging and programming across genres and
platforms. The initiative was conceived by
the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS with
additional support from the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation. To date the GMAI has organized
major regional HIV/AIDS initiatives among
broadcast companies in Africa, the Caribbean,
Russia, India, Latin America and the USA.

Application forms for the
2007 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards
are now available and African journalists – Print,
Television, Radio, Online and Photo – are
being encouraged to send in their applications
before the deadline of 21st February, 2007.
Journalists may submit their entries in English,
French or Portuguese language.

The competition is open
to African journalists working on the continent
for an African-owned media organization which
broadcast or published their entry between
January and December 2006. More information
on the Award can be found on www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/africanawards/competition.html

Special Award for
Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting

Reporters from electronic
and print media who have had material related
to HIV/AIDS broadcast or printed in 2006
are encouraged to apply for the Kaiser-CNN
Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Journalism
in Africa. This Award specifically recognizes
work that includes perspectives on the broader
political, economic and social dimensions
of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as the
more obvious health issues. Applicants for
the Award will also be considered for participation
in a week-long special journalism development
workshop run by the Kaiser Family Foundation
in parallel to the CNN award program in Cape
Town in July 2007.

Entries must be received
by 21st February, 2007. Go to www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/africanawards/competition.html to
find the application forms.

To see information
on past winners, judges and previous
stories submitted, click
here.